podcast Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

It’s Upfronts Week in NYC and all the TV networks are making their annual pitches to sponsors with the intention of obtaining millions of dollars to advertise on their programming. We speak with journalist/blogger Laura Martinez, about how Univision and Telemundo are trying to adapt to the demographic growth of US born Latinos, if we’re ready for English-language novelas and why the next CEO of either network needs to be a woman. Then Mike Sargent joins us to review Deadpool 2 and why he thinks it’s better than the original – from its diversity down to it’s humor.Read More

This week we speak with triple threat star and freshly minted Tony nominee Ariana DeBose who is currently one of the three stars of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. We discuss the intense vocal preparation in becoming The Queen of Disco, why the show cast women in male roles, equal pay, pansexuality and Hispanic identity on Broadway. Then I chat with Zetna Fuentes, a Latina TV director who has directed some of the biggest shows currently on television – Marvel’s “Jessica Jones,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” ABC’s “Scandal” and Amazon’s “BOSCH” to mention just a few. We discuss why there are so few Latina directors in tv and film and what can be done to fix it, plus, how she uses her Hispanic heritage to influence her tv work.Read More

Comedian Eugenio Derbez stops by the show to discuss his new movie “Overboard,” but we really talk about his struggles of becoming a star in an industry that has not fully embraced his culture, his accent nor his stories. We unspool why he’s making English-language movies now after a successful career in Spanish, how he overcame the sellout stigma from Mexican peers and why he believes Hollywood is afraid of creating Latino movie stars.Read More

On episode 71 of Highly Relevant, Ben Lopez, Executive Director of NALIP joins us to discuss the rock-bottom depths Hispanic actors have reached in Hollywood. What is the African-American community doing differently than the Hispanic community? Also, Randy Falco, the CEO of Univision, recently announced he’s retiring early. What type of person should replace him? Is it time for a U.S. born Hispanic to run it and should it be a woman? Should they look into doing English-language programming? And we also chat about how NALIP’s whole mission is to help Hispanic creatives break into Hollywood.

There’s a new horror movie out in theaters called “The Strangers: Prey At Night” directed by Johannes Roberts. He joins the show to discuss why he feels horror movies are such a thrill for moviegoers and why his new movie is different than many others.Read More

The new Vanity Fair December issue is out and two Latinos are on the cover – Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, also now known as J-ROD. I talk to the Bethany Mclean, the writer who spent several days with them to do the cover story and we discussed everything from why Latinos are rarely on the cover of Vanity Fair, the how to of her writing process and how she discovered the trait that bonds them together. Read More

Host Jack Rico is joined by actress/singer Mandy Gonzalez and media/tech analyst Rich Greenfield. Gonzalez (9:35), who is currently playing the role of Angelica Schuyler in the mega-smash Broadway hit Hamilton, talks her debut album Fearless, plus, how she asked Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the title track, her moments of discrimination because of her Latino last name and her upcoming concert appearance at New York’s legendary cabaret Cafe Carlyle.Read More

We’re sending love and prayers to Houston, Texas. On this week’s episode, our good friend Luis Miguel Echegaray, the head of Latino content for Sports Illustrated stopped by to talk about their new initiative for Hispanic sports fans. Also, as the ‘Despacito’ phenomenon winds down, where does Latin music go from here? Some say it has a bright future in mainstream, others aren’t as optimistic. Pop culture writer Julyssa Lopez visits the show to discuss her most recent article in the Washington Post titled, “What’s next for Latin music after the summer of ‘Despacito?” where she explores these questions thoroughly.Read More

Colombian Actor John Leguizamo has had enough with how Hollywood treats Latinos. This week he wrote an article on Billboard.com, “From Music to Movies to TV, Latinos Are Widely Underrepresented – And I’m Done With It” and he essentially calls out executives for being ignorant and blind, he calls out Latinos for being silent and not doing anything to improve the situation and he calls out mainstream media for mostly dismissing our culture altogether. Is he right? Our good friend Kellvin Chavez, founder of LatinoReview.com and EIC of SplashReport.com weighs in on what Leguizamo got right and wrong about Latinos in Hollywood. Have a listen above ⬆️.Read More

On the podcast this week, we talk MTV’s TRL reboot and how they need to seize the Latino music opportunity to be successful, plus, we discuss HBO and it’s controversial new slave series ‘Confederate’ with the creator of the #OscarSoWhite April Reign. She and four women have now created the #NoConfederate campaign to boycott the show. Will HBO succumb to social media pressure?Read More